Contact, by Carl Sagan

[Omphalos]

One of the most interesting themes in SF, and also one of my personal favorites, is the theme of first contact. The theme is not exactly unique to SF - think of European contact with the New World, Roman contact with various barbarians, etc.- though these days it would probably seem so. In SF "first contact" stories deal with mankind's first contact with alien races. Even if you exclude all of the uses of this theme in Star Trek, the genre is chock full of examples. And although it is difficult for me to say for certain which one of the many first contact stories is my favorite, my attention is frequently drawn to two in particular: Listeners, by James Gunn, and today's selection, Contact, by Carl Sagan. Sagan's novel made an enormous splash when it came out: Sagan was world renown as a charismatic, handsome, brilliant and likable popularizer and explainer of very advanced astronomy and physics concepts, and was already associated with the PBS television show Cosmos, in which he essentially explained everything in the universe. Personally I consider Cosmos so well done that it was hard for me to see how Sagan ever could have topped it with another non-fiction product; and in fact he never really did. But when Contact came out I really had to stop and ask myself whether he had in fact outdone himself. I think the answer to that question is yes...Please click here, or on the book cover above, to be taken to the complete review..

[The Procrastinator]

Good review - good because I happen to agree with it! I bought Contact many years ago because I watched Cosmos on the telly growing up, and loved it - basically I bought it out of affection for Carl Sagan - and was very impressed with the book, too. The sense of wonder in this book really stood out for me - as in fact it did throughout the Cosmos series. To capture somewhat of the feelings involved in religion while remaining true to science is an achievement indeed. Imagine if he could've done a remake, with modern effects?

The movie was a pretty good adaptation, really.

[AE35Unit]

Oh I remember reading thisbook ages ago and loving it! Sagan is/was a legend!

[Rodders]

I've never read this, although i really enjoyed the movie. I might have to pick this up on my next book haul.

[Parson]

IMO the book far surpasses the movie. (But don't they always?) I see it as a book of a person who wanted desperately to believe there was the "numinous" but wanted to believe only what could be scientifically proven. In the end the book is a story of hope, I believe his actual feelings were despair at this point.

[Lady of Winterfell]

I saw the movie first, and really enjoyed it when it came out. I only recently read the book last year, and thought it was great. I would recommend giving the book a try.

[The Procrastinator]

Recently reread the book, Parson, and can't say much hint of despair came through for me! Quite the contrary. Or are you speaking of an interview or some such? I read Contact as Sagan's attempt to communicate the numinous he did indeed find in science - actually my faded memories of the Cosmos series are full of wonder and the numinous as well.

[Stephen Palmer]

It's a good film, but a great book.

[Parson]

Originally Posted by The Procrastinator

Recently reread the book, Parson, and can't say much hint of despair came through for me! Quite the contrary. Or are you speaking of an interview or some such? I read Contact as Sagan's attempt to communicate the numinous he did indeed find in science - actually my faded memories of the Cosmos series are full of wonder and the numinous as well.

I probably did not say what I meant clearly enough.

Looking at Contact from the perspective of a person of faith. I found the book a great read, but I thought that it was sadly unfortunate that Sagan set the bar so high to "prove" the existence of the "numinous." I don't believe that God is going to reveal himself to humans in a "scientifically provable" way until the end of time. As I also believe that a relationship with Christ is the door to eternal life; I used the word despair more of my feeling about Sagan's search rather than anything that I know he actually said.

[Omphalos]

Parson, what'd you make of the whole message-in-pi thing? Of everything in the book that is the one that I found most fascinating.

[Parson]

I thought the message in pi was a wonderful bit. I'm no real mathematician so it sounded very plausible to me "deeper than anyone had ever solved pi before --- in base 11 no less!" But someone told me (I'm not sure how they knew) that it would be impossible to come up with a binary code of ones and zeros. It would certainly take some guessing as to where on an axis the first point would fall and how they would be in relationship to the others.

If this could be true, it would make for the kind of proof that not many could ignore and Sagan could have accepted.